Polish - Swedish talks in Warsaw
On 7 May, the next part of negotiations between representatives of Polish and Swedish regulatory offices, accompanied by representatives of power sector companies, was held in Warsaw. The meeting concentrated on optimizing the use of transmission capacities on SwePol Link, an interconnector between Sweden and Poland.
From the creation of Regional ERGEG Initiatives, regulatory offices from Poland and Sweden are continuing their cooperation in order to introduce market mechanisms at the SwePol Link connection. The national regulators and power sector representatives continued their work on main priorities within Implementation Group (IG) called “Optimizing the use of the interconnectors - SwePol Link and Baltic Cable”. During the last months dynamic progress has been achieved.
An important step forward was made in March 2010, when Polish and Swedish transmission system operators: PSE-Operator and Svenska Kraftnät, signed joint declaration towards truly market based model of access to the SwePol link capacities. This declaration was welcomed by regulators from both countries. At the previous IG meeting on 16th of April, Marek Woszczyk, the Vice - President of URE, underlined that the main issue is to implement market based allocation of available cross-border capacities in accordance with acquis communitarie.
During the last IG meeting on 7 May, participants discussed timeline for implementation of market-based mechanisms to get access to the capacities of the interconnector. Market participants are working towards market coupling solutions in order to enhance the capacity allocation at the link and to promote effective regional market integration. In parallel, in order to achieve these goals, a cooperation between Nord Pool Spot AS and Polish Power Exchange (POLPX) has continued. The power exchanges’ cooperation is aimed at introducing implicit auctions enabling access to interconnector capacity for all market participants.
26 representatives of energy companies, including transmission system operators, power exchanges and other energy companies as well as representatives of Regulatory Offices from Poland and Sweden were present during the meeting. Polish Energy Regulatory Office was represented by Jacek Biedrzycki, Rafał Gawin, Aleksandra Gawlikowska - Fyk i Katarzyna Smagieł, experts from Department for Promotion of Competition and Kamila Kloc - Evison, Head of European/International Cooperation at the Office.
The next IG meeting will be on 23 June in Stockholm.
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The SwePol link designed for 600 MW at 450 kV is the most modern high voltage HVDC submarine cable link. SwePol Link's most unique feature is that, unlike previous installations that depend on electrode stations to transmit current under ground or under water, it uses MCRC cable to carry this current. The converter station on the Swedish side is located in a former quarry on Sterno peninsula southwest of Karlshamn. The land part of the cable there is only 2.5 km long. The cable is buried on its route from the shore, passes east of the Danish island of Bornholm and comes ashore in Ustka a small town on Poland's Baltic coast. In Poland the cable is buried over a distance of approximately 12 km from the coast to the converter station near Słupsk. To control, monitor and supervise the proper operation of SwePol Link, advanced control system "MACH II" is used, one at each station. Telecommunication between stations is operated through one dedicated, leased line and a back-up, dial-up channel.
The High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission link between Sweden and Poland commissioned in August 2000 is one of the six similar cable links which connect the power grids of Continental Europe with the grids of the Nordic region creating the so called Baltic Ring. It was established as a result of the Swedish-Polish agreement between Svenska Kraftnat, Vattenfall AB and Polish Power Grid Company (PSE S.A.) on the strength of which in 1997 SwePol Link AB was formed. The company's responsibility was to construct, maintain and operate a 600 MW HVDC link between Karlshamn in Sweden and Słupsk in Poland. In 1998 a Polish division of SwePol Link AB was formed and called SwePol Link Poland. It is in charge of cable maintenance on Polish side. However, PSE PÓŁNOC has been responsible for technical operation and maintenance of the cable since the beginning of its existence. PSE PÓŁNOC has also operated the cable and converter station on the Swedish side since April 2007 winning a tender with competitive Swedish companies.
More detailed information about transmission link SwePol Link please find on www.pse-swepollink.pl/indexe.html